DSM-5: Changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health providers in the United States. It contains a listing of diagnostic criteria for every psychiatric disorder recognized by the U.S. health care system.

Revisions Published in 2013

The American Psychiatric Association has announced that DSM-5, the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, incorporates significant scientific advances in more precisely identifying and diagnosing mental disorders. DSM-5 provides a common language for patients, caregivers, and clinicians to communicate about the disorders.

Some of the categories for anxiety disorders have changed. These changes will not affect your ability to find treatment or your current health insurance. Ask your therapist or doctor about how the new criteria may provide a more accurate way to characterize symptoms and assess severity.

Anxiety and Depression Refinements

Much has remained the same in the areas of anxiety and depression, with refinements of criteria and symptoms across the lifespan. Some disorders included in the broad category of anxiety disorders are now in three sequential chapters: Anxiety Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, and Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders. This move emphasizes the distinctiveness of each category while signaling their interconnectedness. (See list below.)

One significant change is the developmental approach and examination of disorders across the lifespan, including children and older adults. Some conditions are grouped together as syndromes because the symptoms are not sufficiently distinct to separate the disorders. Others have been split apart into distinct groups.

The DSM-5 is not a treatment guide, and it will not affect the availability of treatments for patients and their loved ones.

Contact ADAA

ADAA is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention, treatment, and cure of anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, and related disorders and to improving the lives of all people who suffer from them through education, practice, and research.